Brianna Hildebrand has left fans doing a double-take after a viral comparison showed how different she looks from the character that made her famous as a teenager.
The actress became instantly recognizable as the brooding Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Deadpool, but an off-screen photo shows a completely different side of the star.
“I did not recognize her for a moment. That’s crazy,” one fan wrote online.
Highlights
- Fans did a double-take after spotting Brianna Hildebrand’s dramatically different off-screen look years after the actress first rose to fame.
- The actress was just 18 when she landed the iconic role that made her a Marvel fan favorite.
- Hildebrand has since taken on a range of roles far removed from her breakout superhero character.
Brianna Hildebrand’s real-life appearance has fans stunned by how different she looks from her famous Deadpool character
Hildebrand rose to fame in 2016 when she was cast in Deadpool, playing the sarcastic, rebellious X-Men trainee alongside Ryan Reynolds.
She returned as the character in Deadpool 2 and later Deadpool & Wolverine, making the role a defining part of her career.
That contrast makes the viral side-by-side shared on X particularly striking.
One image shows Brianna in her instantly recognizable superhero persona, complete with the character’s severe styling and famously unimpressed expression.
The other shows the actress smiling cheekily as she stands in front of an outdoor shower in an orange bikini.
The difference was enough to leave fans questioning how they could have missed that the two images showed the same person.
“What a transformation! She went from fierce superhero energy to completely different off-screen vibes,” one commenter wrote.
Hildebrand was only 18 when she landed the role that would change her career overnight
Another added, “The difference is actually wild. Same actress, completely different energy.”
A third user commented, “I just can’t believe this is actually the same person?? Is it even the same age?”
Others expressed, “She looks naturally beautiful, without even trying too hard.”
Another comment read, “The difference is actually wild. Same actress, completely different energy…”
“I remember seeing several interviews with her at the time and couldn’t believe how bubbly and happy she was compared to her character in that movie. She's such a fun girl.”
Hildebrand was just 18 when she landed the role in the franchise, meaning she effectively grew up alongside the character as it continued.
By the time Deadpool & Wolverine arrived in 2024, she was 28 and reflecting on how surreal it was to realize a decade had passed.
The actress has quietly built a career far beyond the sarcastic mutant fans first came to know her for
“It’s been a wild ride,” she told Wonderland in 2024, adding that she liked to believe that both she and her character Negasonic had “grown softer with age.”
The role was physically demanding, too.
Brianna told the outlet that she trained with a personal trainer and practiced Muay Thai for the first two movies, while also doing boxing and wire work for the action sequences.
After Deadpool, she moved into projects that allowed her to play very different kinds of characters, including Verity in The Exorcist and Elodie Davis in Netflix’s Trinkets.
Trinkets gave Hildebrand a different kind of challenge.
Instead of playing a seemingly unbothered superhero, she portrayed Elodie, a grieving teenager who moves to a new town and forms an unlikely friendship with two other girls while attending Shoplifters Anonymous.
She told Backstage that she immediately connected with the character because of Elodie’s feelings of not fitting in and saying the wrong thing.
Brianna has also been open about her identity while keeping much of her personal life away from the spotlight
The role also required a very different kind of preparation from Deadpool, with Brianna describing the Netflix series as more emotionally focused while the superhero films demanded extensive physical training and stunt work.
Her other credits include films like Tragedy Girls, Playing with Fire, and First Girl I Loved.
That range is exactly what some fans noticed when reacting to the viral comparison.
“The way she goes from comedy to comic book so naturally, like that takes real range,” one commenter wrote.
“Most people get typecast for life after one big role, but she’s just out here proving she can do both.”
While Hildebrand has become increasingly recognizable through her work, she has generally kept her personal life relatively low-key.
She has, however, spoken openly about her queer identity and supported LGBTQ+ visibility through her work and advocacy.
Brianna is reportedly in a long-term relationship with Jonneke Grisham, who was working behind the scenes in the art department as a set decorator and dresser on the LGBTQ+ romance film First Girl I Loved.
She reportedly currently lives in Los Angeles with her long-term partner.
“The same actress pulling off two totally different vibes? Mad respect for range. What a talented beauty,” one fan gushed
